Door fastener



July 3, 1951 5, 5, BATH 2,558,824

DOOR FASTENER Filed Jan. 15, 1947 2 Sheets-Sheet l InVe 2 2 /07: fiegzge 1117007572.

Jul 3, 1951 G. E. DATH 2,558,824

DOOR FASTENER Filed Jan. 15, 1947 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Invren/or: $22192 ZiDG/ih.

Patented July 3, 1951 DOOR FASTENER George E. Dath, Mokena, Ill., assignor to W. H.

Miner, Inc., Chicago, 111., a corporation of Dela- Ware Application January 13, 1947, Serial No. 721,707

2 Claims. 1

This invention relates to improvements in door fasteners for hinged doors and more particularly for hinged doors of automobile trucks.

One object of the invention is to provide a door fastener for automobile trucks comprising a rotary operating bar carried by the truck door having keeper engaging crank members adapted to cooperate with keeper means mounted on the truck above and below the door, wherein the rotary operating bar is concealed within the door structure.

A further object of the invention is to provide a door fastener as set forth in the preceding paragraph, wherein the assembled rotary operating bar and keeper engaging members are arranged to be applied to the door as a unit which is entered through an opening at the top of the door and is maintained in its assembled operative condition with respect to the door by shouldered engagement with a bearing seat provided at the lower portion of the door.

Other objects of the invention will more clearly appear from the description and claims hereinafter following.

In the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 is a rear elevational View of a portion of the body of an automobile truck provided with a pair of hinged doors, 1'l lustrating my improvements in connection therewith. Figure 2 is a transverse, vertical sectional view, on an enlarged scale, corresponding substantially to the line 2-2 of Figure 1. Figure 3 is a broken top plan view of the right hand door shown in Figure 1, the view being taken at the toner edge of the door. broken horizontal sectional view, corresponding substantially to the line 4-4 of Figure .2. Figure 5 is a horizontal sectional view, corresponding substantially to the line 5--5 of Figure 2, showing the cooperating keeper member, the door being omitted in this view. Figure 6 is a front elevational view of the keeper member shown in Figure 5.

In said drawings, l indicates the rear wall of an automobile truck having a door opening I l therein, closed by a pair of hinged doors l2 and i3. Each door is provided with the usual hinges E i-l4 along the vertical outer edges thereof, by which the door is swingingly supported. The doors i2 and i3 are of well-known design, the door l2, as shown in Figures 2, 3, and 4, comprising top and bottom 2 -bars [-15, front and rear walls It and I! in the form of sheet metal plates secured to the vertical flanges of the Z-bars l5l 5, and the usual vertical end walls connect- Figure 4 is a ed by front and rear walls, the inner end wall only being shown, said end Wall being indicated by l8. The door it, the details of which are not shown, is of a construction similar to the door 12, and the doors l2 and i3 have their meeting edges beveled so that the door if! overlaps the door 13 when the same are closed. The door !2 has a portion of the front wall inwardly offset, as indicated at Hi, to provide a laterally elongated pocket 20, adapted to accommodate the operating handle lever of the door fastener, as hereinafter described.

My improved door fastener, as shown in the drawings, comprises broadly an operating bar A, keeper engaging end members B-l-3, keepers C-C, and an operating handle lever D.

The bar A is in the form of a hollow cylindrical tube, vertically disposed between the front and rear walls It and ii of the door i2 and extending through aligned openings Iii-2i in the top and bottom walls of the pocket 26.

The end members BB are of similar design, except as hereinafter pointed out, each end member being in the form of a thimble telescoped over the corresponding end of the cylindrical bar A and welded thereto. Each end member comprises a cylindrical sleevelike portion 22, closed at one end, the sleeve 22 of the lower end member B being closed at its lower end and the sleeve of the upper end member B being closed at its upper end. Each end member has an eccentric keeper engaging crank pin 23 extending from the closed end of the sleeve portion 22 thereof, the crank pin of the lower end member depending and that of the upper end member upstanding therefrom. The sleeve portion of the upper end member B is enlarged at its upper end to provide a cylindrical bearing portion 2a which is journaled in a circular bearing opening 25 provided in the horizontal web of the upper Z-bar it of the door H2. The sleeve '22 of the lower end member B is provided with an exterior annular flange 26 adjacent its lower end adapted to bear on the horizontal web of the lower Z-bar [5 of the door l2. The flange 25 is spaced inwardly from the lower end of the sleeve 22 and the sleeve thus presents a projecting cylindrical bearing portion 21 at its lower end, which is journaled in a circular bearing opening 28 provided in the horizontal web of the bottom Z-bar l5. The opening 28 of the bottom Z-bar is in vertical alignment with the opening 25 of the top Z-bar but is of smaller diameter than the opening 25, the latter being of slightly greater diameter than the flange 26 of the lower end to the latter, as indicated at 34 and 35.

3 member to permit said flange to pass freely therethrough to allow application of the fastener to the door, as hereinafter described.

The crank pins 23--23 of the end members B-B cooperate with the keepers CC, which cured to that portion of the bar which extends through the pocket of the door I2. The main body portion of the lever D is in the form of an elongated arm of channel-shaped cross section, comprising a central web 30, formed with top and bottom, forwardly extending flanges 3l 3l. At the outer end portion, the lever D terminates in a hand grip 32, which is continuous with the web 30. At the inner end, the arm portion of the lever D is formed with a semi-cylindrical flange 33 which partly surrounds the tubular bar A in embracing relation thereto and is welded To maintain the lever D in fixed position and prevent rotation of the bar A when the door is closed, a latch member 36 is preferably provided. This latch member may be of any suitable form, and, as shown, comprises a spring actuated pivoted latch finger 3'! engaged through a suitable opening 38 provided in the vertical web of the arm of the operating lever D.

In applying my improved door fastener to the door 12, the end members B-B are first assembled with the bar A by telescoping .the. sleevelike portions 22-22 of the end members .over the corresponding ends of the bar and welding the same thereto, as shown, the sleeves 22 -22 having suitable perforations or openings 39-39 therethrough to accommodate the welding metal.

The bar A with the assembled end members B-'B thereon, is then applied to the door 12 by inserting the assembled unit in endwise direction from above the door, through the opening- 25 at the upper end of the same. In the assembling operation, the unit is dropped downwardlyv until the bearing portion 2! of the lower end member B is engaged in the bearing opening of the bottom Z-bar l5 of the door with the annular flange 26 of said end member seated on the horizontal web of said Z-bar. The handle lever D is then welded to the bar A.

As is well understood by those skilled in this art, forcibly opening and closing of the door I2 is effected by camming engagement of the eccentric crank pins 23-23 with the keepers 4 CC by rotation of the bar in reverse directions through winging movement of the operating handle lever D. In forcing the door 12 closed, the operating handle lever D swings into the pocket 20 of said door, as clearly shown in Figure 4, and is automatically latched in position by the spring actuated latch finger 31 when the door has been forced home.

I claim: 7

1. In a hinged door construction, the combination with a door member having spaced front and rear walls and top and bottom horizontal walls connecting said spaced walls; of a rotatable operating bar having keeper engaging end member fixed to opposite ends thereof adapted to cooperate with fixed keepers, said bar being arranged vertically in the space between said front and rear walls of the door and having the end members thereof extending through and journaled in bearing openings provided in said top and bottom walls ofthe door; and an annular supporting flange on said lower end member having shouldered engagement with said bottom wall of the door to support said end member and bar against downward displacement, said bearing opening in aid top wall of the door being a greater diameter than the diameter of said annular flange of said lower end member to permit endwis-e insertion of said bar and attached end members through said opening into the space between the front and rear walls of the door.

2. In a hinged door construction, the combination with a door having spaced front and rear walls and top and bottom walls connecting said spaced walls; of a tubular operating bar rotatably mounted on said door; a lower keeper engaging end member on the lower end of said bar, said end member extending through a bearing opening in the bottom wall of said door and having an exterior annular flange supported on said bottom wall, said end member having a sleevelike socket portion within which the lower end'of the bar has a telescopic (fit; an upper keeper engaging member on the upper end of said bar, said upper keeper engaging member eX- tending through and being journaled in an opening in the top wall of said door; and a lever fixed to said bar for rotating the same.

GEORGE E. DATI-I.

REFERENCES CITED "The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,760,173 Schulz May 27, 1930 1,830,957 OConnor Nov. 10, 1931 1,952,112 Bartsch Mar. 27, 1934 2,030,677 Avels Feb. 11, 1936 2,236,594 Dwyer Apr. 1, 1941 

